Articles, quantifiers, possessive adjectives, demonstrative adjectives, numbers.
Definite and Indefinite Articles
The, a, an, 0 article
There is an animal, a boy and 0 water in the garden. The animal is a cat, the boy is Peter and the water is in a swimming-pool.
Exercises
Elementary Intermediate 1 Intermediate 2 Intermediate 3
Quantifiers
Some, Any, No
The quantifiers some, any and no are a kind of determiner.
Some is an unspecified quantity. It could be big or small, we don't know. Normally it is "medium".
Any is also an unspecified quantity. It refers to "one, some or all". So it's a quantity from 1 to infinity (∞).
No is easy! No is ZERO (0).
The general rule is that we use some and no in positive (+) sentences and any in question (?) and negative (-) sentences.
| some | example situation | |
|---|---|---|
| + | I have some money. | I have $10. |
| I have no money. | I have $0. | |
| ? | Do you have any money? | Do you have $1 or $10 or $1,000,000? |
| - | I don't have any money. | I don't have $1 and I don't have $10 and I don't have $1,000,000. I have $0. |
Look at these examples:
- He needs some stamps.
- I must go home. I have some homework to do.
- There were no stamps for the letters.
- I have no homework to do so let's go out.
- Does he need any stamps?
- Do you have any homework to do?
- He doesn't need any stamps.
- I can stay. I don't have any homework to do.
We use any in a positive sentence when the real sense is negative.
- I refused to give them any money. (I did not give them any money)
- She finished the test without any difficulty. (she did not have any difficulty)
Sometimes we use some in a question, when we offer or ask for something, when we expect a positive YES answer. (We could say that it is not a real question, because we think we know the answer already.)
- Would you like some more tea?
- Could I have some sugar, please?
- I have no money.
I don't have no money.
However, in informal spoken English you can sometimes hear "no" after a negative verb:
I don't need no doctor! I can't get no satisfaction ...
But it is not considered to be "academicaly correct".
Some, no and any can be pronouns too:
-Would you like some sugar? -Yes, I'd like some, please.
-Do you have any brothers and sisters? -No, I don't have any.
The same rules apply to all some-, any-, no- words (INDEFINITE PRONOUNS)
somebody, someone, nobody, no one, anybody, anyone
something, nothing, anything
somewhere, nowhere, anywhere
NONE (pronoun)
"None" means "not one"
-Do you have any qualifications? - I have none.
None of my friends are English.
(much, many, (a) few, both, each ...)
Exercises
Some, no, any Any, no, none All Quantifiers
Possessive Adjectives
Adjectives Pronouns
(Before nouns) (alone)
My pen is mine
Your pen is yours
His pen is his
Her pen is hers
Its pen
is its
Our pen is ours
Your pen is
yours
Their pen is theirs
Exercises
Possessive adjectives Adjectives/Pronouns
Demonstrative Adjectives
This, these (near distance)
That, those (far distance)
The choice of demonstrative adjective depends on the number (singular or plural) and the relative physical or temporal distance (near or far) of the noun being modified,
I don’t like this book. Can I read that one you have instead?
Are you sure you want to buy these silver earrings? What about those gold ones, over there?
This year is going to be great. [The current year]
That year was just terrible. [Some year in the past]
People spend too much time on their phones these days. [Currently]
Numbers
